Breadcrumb

Toolbox

Timber Risk Score: 0 / 100 in 2017. The Timber Legality Risk Assessment contains an evaluation of the risk of illegality in Democratic Republic of the Congo for five categories and 21 sub-categories of law. We found:

Specified risk for 18 sub-categories.

Low risk for 0 sub-categories.

No legal requirements for 3 sub-categories.

This page provides an overview of the legality risks related to timber produced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

DRC has approximately 152.6 million hectares of forest, which covers 67% of the country (FAO, 2015). The forest is divided into three categories:

State production forests

Protected forests

Permanent production forests.

All forest and land is owned by the state. As the sole owner of the forests, the state can grant access rights to the forest area or its resources in various ways.

The average rate of deforestation was 311,400 hectares (0.2%) per year, between 1990 and 2015 (FAO, 2015). Estimates of the extent of illegal logging vary, but are consistently high. According to Lawson (2010), nearly 90% of logging in DRC is small-scale, illegal or informal, intended to supply the domestic market and regional markets. According to the Forest Legality Initiative (2013), the informal market is estimated to be three to six times the volume of the formal sector, which was 300 000m3 per year between 2007 and 2009.

Illegal logging is a significant problem, but the government’s response to illegal logging and related trade has been poor (Chatham house, 2013).

Several legality risks are present in DRC timber supply chains. The risks are wide-ranging and appear across all categories of law. If you are sourcing timber from DRC you should take care to ensure the extensive risks identified are not present in your supply chains, or have been sufficiently mitigated.

Timber sources

Find out the different sources of legal timber

Determine which source type your timber comes from

Timber source type

Description of source type

Production forests

Timber from permanent production forests come from forestry concessions and forests that are put on the market after being subjected to a public inquiry. A forestry management plan, validated by the forestry administration with written specifications drawn up with the local communities is required. Several different permit types can be obtained:

Harvesting permit

Special harvesting permit

Small-scale harvesting permit

Permit for harvesting fuel wood and charcoal.

Protected forests

Timber from protected forests comes from forestry concessions that benefit a business or a local community. The protected forests are those that belong to the State.

To obtain a permit, the act of accreditation for all small-scale timber farmers and conclusion of a written agreement with the local communities who own the protected forests shall be obtained.

Several different permit types can be obtained:

Harvesting permit

Special harvesting permit

Small-scale harvesting permit

Permit for harvesting fuel wood and charcoal.

Risk Assessment

Risk assessment summary

Legal rights to harvest

Risk of illegal and illegitimate land occupation due to a lack of legal titles

Risk of lack of consultation of local communities by state bodies when granting modern land rights. This causes conflicts and violations of communities’ land rights between customary tenures and those who are granted modern rights

All artisanal wood exploitation is done without a written agreement with local community holders of forests for the following reasons:

The Decree on community forestry does not yet have implementing measures

Local communities are neither aware nor informed of their rights.

Risk that concession contractsdo not comply with the 2002 Forest Code requirements and its regulations related to; the concessions' allocation procedures; to the public inquiries demand; to neighbouring community consultations; and to the signature of ‘cahiers de charges’ which should be included with the forestry concession contract

Risk that forest concession contracts are allocated through private treaty, by mutual agreement, or by unilateral decision of the minister responsible for forests rather than by public tender, as is legally required

Risk that social clauses with adjacent local communities are not signed when issuing concession licenses

RIsk that there is no valid forest management plan

Risk that management plans have been approved by the authorities without having been submitted to the technical and social assessments required for an approved forest management plan

Risk that the regular logging license is not granted in compliance with the implementation measures. Currently, for a limited period of time but in violation of Decree 035, it is the minister who delivers the industrial wood logging authorisations

Taxes and fees

Risk of absence of appropriate billing and collection of forest taxes by the government. E.g. the logging tax is calculated from a fixed rate per cubic meter, while the law says it should be a percentage of the value of each species

Risk of non-payment of logging tax by companies though false declaration of volume harvested

Risk that VAT is not paid when timber is harvested illegally or harvesting is not declared

Risk that the price used for the sale of timber by loggers is lower than the price prescribed by law through the Mercurial (report of official selling rates on public markets), which leads to tax evasion

Risk that tax declarations are falsified and income tax payments are evaded

Timber harvesting activities

Risk of violation of harvesting violations, e.g.:

Logging without having shown a management plan with a logging trails network for forestry products approved by the forestry administration.

The minimum timber harvesting diameters are not respected

The dimensions of the different logging roads and trails created by the companies are not in compliance with the technical standards set up by the forestry administration

Risk that protected forest species are logged without acquiring a special logging permit or a special logging authorisation from the competent authority (the Secretary General in charge of forests)

Risk of harvesting of protected species in conservation areas without the required special permit

Risk of export of protected species without legal permits or with a forged permit, due to the difficulty in obtaining CITES licenses

Risk of complacency and corruption in the public service responsible for issuing the industrial and special harvesting permit for Afrormosia, which is CITES listed

Risk that companies log without having an environmental Impact assessment and environmental management plan

Risk that companies that have an environmental management plan do not comply with its provisions

Risk that health and safety requirements are not complied with in the field

Risk that the relations between the company and its employees are not formally described according to the legal and regulatory provisions

Risk that signed employment contracts do not exist

Risk that employers do not register all their employees with social security

Risk of under-age employees

Third parties' rights

Risk that the user rights of the local communities and the indigenous peoples are not respected

Risk that access to rights and resources is subject of many restrictions, limitations or even prohibitions from the forestry companies

Risk that companies do not compensate communities when causing damage or losses to local communities and indigenous peoples

Trade and transport

Risk that companies involved in transportation of wood do not produce the field book, which contains information on quality, quantity, species, the date of felling, the discharge date and the place of destination) for the transported wood

Risk that the field book contains false or difficult-to-verify information, in order to pay less tax than required for the volume, quality and/or species harvested

Risk that timber is transported without the necessary transport permit from the Forestry Administration, or with a falsified permit.

Risk of illegal transfer pricing, under-invoicing and other similar practices

Risk of export of timber without an authorisation for purchase, sale and export from the ministry in charge of forests, only relying on a sales contract

Risk that timber is exported illegally to neighbouring countries by small-scale loggers, including certain forestry bcompanies that hide behind this identity to avoid paying export taxes or reforestation taxes at the border control

Risk that operators or traders abuse the special local permits and authorisations for logging and harvesting of CITES protected species by presenting them as authorisations of export, exploiting the complacency or ignorance of agents and controllers of the State assigned to customs services. CITES permits have to be obtained abroad and are difficult to obtain

Risk of harvesting of protected species without a special harvesting permit or a special harvesting authorisation from the General Secretary of the Administration of Forests

Specified risk species

Common/trade name

Scientific name

Risk information

Afromosia

Pericopsis elata

CITES listed

Stinkwood tree

Prunus africana

CITES listed

Rosewood

Dalbergia spp.

CITES listed

Bubinga, African Rosewood

Guibourtia demeusei

CITES listed

Wenge

Millettia laurentii

On the IUCN Red List endangered species

African ebony

Diospyros crassiflora

On the IUCN Red List endangered species

Risk Mitigation

Mitigate the risks in your supply chain

Learn which actions we recommended to mitigate the risks associated with the timber sources from Democratic Republic of the Congo

Mitigation recommendations

There are five recommended actions to mitigate the risks associated with timber sources from Democratic Republic of the Congo:

The Forest Management Plan (25 years) presented to the Forestry Administration represented by the director of Department of Forest Inventories and Forest Management, the Director of Forest Management, the Director of Forest Registry, and the Head of the Forest Management Plan Division

The following documents form the package that needs to be presented to forest authorities by a logging company in order to get the three types of management plans (1 year, 5 years and 25 years) approved. A logging company which is not able to present the followling documents may have had its plan approved illegally:

The forestry inventories reports

Reports on socio-economic challenges

Certificate of Compliance for the sampling plan

Land Application Form completed by the applicant and lodged with the Land Administration

Lease contract or temporary occupation of land contract

Land concession contract, referred to as a Registration Certificate

Minutes of proceedings of officers and officials under oath

Minutes of conclusions of proceedings of CIM (first and second session)

Support letter from the minister in charge of forests. Concession allocations through private arrangements require such a letter

Letter from the minister responsible for forestry advising of the forestry title conversion decision

Evidence of social and technical assessments (cahiers de charges) with the local communities

Maps showing harvesting areas

Harvesting permits

Minutes of proceedings of border control inspectors

Technical reports from the Department of Forest Inventories and Forest Management (DIAF) mentioning the acquisition by the forestry logging company of the following legality documents: Concession contracts, logging authorisations as a harvesting permit, logging taxes and fee payment notes

Secondary network planning on the basis of the prospecting map approved by the reports from the Competent Forest Authorities

Special logging permit, which is required for protected species

Quarterly timber volume reports

Environmental and/or Social Impact Assessments

Environmental and Social Management Plans

Approval decree of an environmental and social management plan

Tax related documents

Deposit slip and certificate of payment for the payment in cash of all taxes and royalties required by the Forest Code

Deposit slip for the implementation tax and the annual compensatory tax payable at the latest by 30 June of each year

Deposit slip and harvesting tax payable by the forestry company, at the rate of 1.25% per cubic metre of the value of the species

Debit note of the fee on forest area, Note of fee collection on forest area

Debit note of the export tax, Note of collection of export tax

Debit note of the added tax (VAT), Note of collected VAT

Health and safety

The annual activity report from the company’s health and safety committee

A mission report of the administration officers on the inspections above

Minutes of proceedings of officers and officials under oath related to health and safety

Employment related documents

Signed contracts between the company and the employees

Employee registration cards at the National Institute for Social Security (INSS)

Labour Inspectorate reports

Reports of control missions of the administration officers

Minutes of proceedings of officers' and officials under oath

Independent Monitoring reports on forestry control

Third parties' related documents

Reports from monitoring missions of civil society attesting the use of the local communities' consent before allocating land concessions

Transport and trade documents

Quarterly reported timber volumes approved by the Competent Authority

Main roads network planning and mapping in the quinquennial units and in the management plan

Field book, including information on species, volumes, qualities, dates

Circulation permit

Report of the control missions of the administration agents to see if any transport violation has been detected;

Minutes of proceedings of officers and officials under oath if there have been infractions;

Reports from the Independent Observer of forests, which identify if any infractions have occurred

Contract validation report of timber purchase and sale from the Department of Forest Management

Timber export certificate

Contract of sale with a confirmed buyer

Batch report ready for exportation

Packing list

CITES permit for export of these species (although likely unavailable)

List of species submitted to a particular management

Trimestral declarations of the volumes of timber

See section 4 below for additional documents that can be used.

3. Consult with stakeholders

Financial authority confirms that all required income and profit taxes have been paid

Stakeholders confirms that customary rights are observed during harvesting activities

Neighbours, local communities and others confirm that land tenure rights are clear (in areas with land ownership conflicts)

Staff and contractors confirm that legally required protection equipment is provided and used by the relevant people

4. Carry out on-site verification

Confirm that harvesting limits are clearly defined based on maps

Confirm that harvesting takes place within limits given in the harvesting permit.

Confirm that information regarding area, species, volumes and other information given in the harvesting permit are correct and within limits prescribed in the legislation

Confirm that harvesting does not take place in areas where legally prohibited

Confirm that tree species or selected trees found within the FMU for which felling is prohibited are listed in operational plans

Confirm that tree species or selected trees found within the FMU for which felling is prohibited are marked in the field

Confirm that the requirements for environmental monitoring are observed

Confirm that environmental restrictions are followed in the field, such as requirements related to soil damage, buffer zones, retention trees, seasonal restrictions etc.

Confirm that health and safety regulations are followed and all required safety equipment are used

Confirm that under-age workers are not employed.

Confirm that requirements on preventing air and water pollution are followed and monitored

Documents which might be easier to verify on-site:

Large documents such as workers' contracts, certificates and reports from the administrative control services to certify compliance with the law

Minutes of officers' proceedings and officials under oath can provide evidence that the rights of local communities and indigenous peoples are respected

Reports of the Independent Observer of forest control can provide evidence that the rights of local communities and indigenous peoples are respected

Minutes of the commission of forest disputes

Salary slips

Employment contracts

Collective agreements

Management plans identifying resources rights of local and indigenous communities

Expense papers signed by the logging companies and local or indigenous communities

Sales contracts with the buyer, and validated batch report ready to export

Quarterly statements, volumes of wood and reports of the Congolese Institute of Nature Conservation

List of species submitted to a particular management

Trimestral declarations of the volumes of timber

5. Conduct targeted timber testing

Conduct timber testing on samples of purchasd material to verify the species or origin of timber, where appropriate

Profile Publication Date

2017-06-19

ILLEGAL LOGGING IS THREATENING MUKULA TREE IN DRC –CATHOLIC BISHOP
A source has reported that a Catholic bishop in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) claimed that illegal logging in the south-east of the country is threatening the rare mukula tree.30 August 2019, One Observers Mukula tree, Illegal logging, Pterocarpus chrysothrix, DRC

First third party verified certificate of legal origin in DRC!
The company CFT has obtained the “Legal Source TM” certificate for its forestry activities in DRC. It’s an excellent news from this country where serious companies of the forest and wood sector are eagerly searching to improve their image.05 July 2019, ATIBT legal source

The European Commission support for the production of this material does not constitute endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. This material has also been funded by the UK aid from the UK government and DANIDA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark; however the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the UK government’s or DANIDA's official policies.

The contents of the majority of the Timber Legality Risk Assessments was developed by Forest Stewardship council through FSC Risk Assessments. The original FSC Risk Assessments required in the implementation of the FSC controlled wood standard can be accessed here. NEPCon was hired by FSC as one of the main consultants in developing FSC Risk Assessments, and NEPCon provided some cofounding for our role in that work.